Who won the Ducks/Penguins trade?

​In this edition of the hotstove, we share our thoughts on the trade that saw Anaheim trade defenseman Marcus Pettersson to Pittsburgh for winger Daniel Sprong.​

Todd Cordell

I prefer Anaheim's side of the deal.

Daniel Sprong was an elite finisher in junior and an elite finisher in the AHL at a young age. Although his raw NHL production is nothing to get excited about, he was consistently given the short end of the stick with poor linemates and limited ice time. Even so, his rate stats (1.64 points/60, 10.64 chances/60) are very encouraging. I think he has a ton of potential and the Ducks were smart to take a chance on a one-shot scorer like Sprong. Those guys are hard to get.

While Marcus Pettersson is an NHL player, and the Penguins need defense help, I think he'll top out as a 3rd pairing guy/fringe No. 4. I don't think that's worth giving up Sprong for.

James Tanner

This trade is similar to the Strome trade last week in that the team trading the potentially best player didn't really give that player much of a chance.

Sprong has tons of talent and a track record of AHL success. The Penguins, like the Coyotes with Strome, played him with duds and didn't give him much ice time.

I don't think this Pettersson guy is any good, and so I like the Ducks in this trade. Maybe Sprong can be a decent top six winger, so might as well take the chance. As for Pittsburgh, I have no clue what they are thinking here.

Ryan Wilson

When you look at Daniel Sprong's AHL numbers and the lack of minutes and quality of teammate in Pittsburgh this is a good thing for him. Clearly Pittsburgh wasn't going to give him a chance. It is so strange that the Penguins wouldn't embrace what Sprong was (offense first shooter) and focused on his defensive deficiencies. They never knew what they had in him and they dwindled his trade value by not trading him soon enough. Much like Derek Pouliot he is a player they had no interest in investing in and were late in trading him.